Receiver mechanism for feeding and positioning ammunition in a gun



March 1, 1960 w, WARREN 2,926,567

RECEIVER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND I POSITIONING AMMUNITION IN A GUN Filed Sept. 23, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 V" INVENTOR Z Raymon d M! War/ en r fi RNE

R- W. WARREN RECEIVER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND March 1, 1960 POSITIONING AMMUNITION IN A sum 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 wv km Filed Sept. 23, 1955 N Gt INVENTOR Raymond W Warren TTORNEYS R m 5 k 8 vwwwum 6 t We .R 5 w O 6 ma w w m w z m w H M 0 m M Y W v. j \NMB R. W. WARREN RECEIVER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND POSITIONING AMMUNITION IN A GUN March 1, 1960 Filed Sept 23, 1953 United States Patent RECEIVER MECHANISM FOR FEEDING AND POSITIONING ANIMUNITION IN A GUN Raymond W. Warren, McLean, Va., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Application September 23, 1953, Serial No. 382,014

8 Claims. (Cl. 89-33) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

The present invention relates to receiver mechanisms for guns, or for rocket guns and includes a novel method and apparatus for feeding rounds to a gun in a desired time sequence, positioning the rounds for firing, sealing each round to the barrel, firing the rounds, unsealing the empty round cases and removing the cases in repetitious cycles.

Heretofore, rounds have been fed to a gun in a predetermined time sequence by means of a start wheel or other means which also positioned the rounds in alignment with the barrel whereupon a sliding sealing collar moved into such a position as to seal the joint between the round and the barrel during firing. The star wheel also carried away the empty cases after a round was fired simultane: ously with the movement of the next succeeding round into firing position. In the case of some of the gun rocket rounds of the prior art, the round case itself served as the firing chamber of the barrel during firing.

The employment of a star wheel has been found to present certain disadvantages in that the star wheel, operating cams, driving spring, sealing collar, live round and empty round case were all required to be moved from one position to another and thereby necessitated overcoming a large inertia of such a combination of structural elements. 'In addition, the operating cam was moved in one direction by the piston rod of a gas cylinder and in the opposite direction by the driving spring. It will be apparent that the rate of fire of the gun was determined by the movement of these various structural elements.

Another disadvantage of the prior art system hereinbefore mentioned has been found to be that a round would not be properly positioned for firing if there was a delay inthe ammunition feed. Such a delay could occur at any time, as for example, at a time when the elements might be only partially in firing position and hence there would be imposed a high load on only a portion of the elements. Such high loading has, in the past, broken the ammunition loading elements thereby silencing the gun until the broken parts were replaced. The present invention avoids the disadvantages of the afore-mentioned prior art loading systems by providing operating elements of greatly reduced weight and inertia thereby permitting rapid operation with a positive feeding of each round. The rate of fire of a gun employing the receiver mechanism of the present invention is controlled by the rate at which rounds are fed into the gun. Further, the elements operated by the gas piston and driving spring of the present invention travel relatively short distances thereby permitting the use of a short driving spring which, in turn, reduces the tendency of the spring to surge under the hammer-like blows of the gas piston.

With the foregoing in mind it is an object of this invention 't'o provide a new and improved method and apparatus for feeding rounds to a gun in a desired time sequence, firing the rounds and then removing the empty case and repeating the cycle and in which the foregoing difiiculties are obviated and which is adapted to perform all the functions heretofore proposed or now in general use.

An additional object of the invention resides in a novel and improved apparatus whereby a round may be fed to a gun barrel and positively positioned therein for firing regardless of the rate of fire of the gun within the operational limits thereof.

Another object of the present invention resides in the provision of two stops for aligning a round in a firing position in longitudinal alignment with the gun barrel and two sears with cooperating structure therebetween to prevent release of either sear before the round is aligned against both stops.

Yet another object resides in the use of spring loaded stops which move away from the empty round case and remain in that position until the case has been ejected.

A further object resides in the provision of a feeding device which includes a movable cable which can be run at a constant velocity in the same direction thereby eliminating starting and stopping or reciprocating any of the elements of the feeding device each time a round is fired to align the round with the breech of the gun.

Yet an additional object of the invention resides in the provision of a movable cable-type feeding device which cooperates with other structure of the receiver mechanism to render it unnecessary to stop the cable instantaneously when a round is properly aligned with the breech to prevent damage to either the round or the receiver or both.

Still another object of the present receiver mechanism is the provision of a cable-type feeding device which may be started gradually to thereby permit the employment of a commercial type repulsion-induction electric motor for driving the feeding device.

A further object of the present receiver mechanism resides in the provision of a cable-type feeding device which may be stopped gradually without damage to rounds being fed into the receiver mechanism or to the receiver mechanism or both.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side perspective view in schematic form of the receiver mechanism of the present invention with the barrel of an associated gun shown in a vertical position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a carrier and parts immediately associated therewith as viewed from below on a line substantially corresponding to line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the disposition of the parts immediately after a round has been fired;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation view of one of the stop members with its cooperating sear, and the sear bar; an

Fig. 5 is a detailed view of one of the cable clutch mechanisms for disengaging the round carrier from the cable when the round is in proper alignment with the breech for firing.

Referring now to the several figures of the drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like parts and more particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, it will be observed that the receiver mechanism of the present invention cooperates with a portion of barrel 11 of a gun. A backplate or block 12 is provided which may, if so desired, be a portion of the receiver frame, the latter not being shown in its entirety because it forms no part of the lnvention.

A sealing collar 13 is slidably carried by the breech aeasre end of gun barrel 11. It will be noted that the sealing collar 13 is formed with a pair of raised circumferential shoulders 14 longitudinally spaced from one another relative to the length of the gun barrel. Thus, a circumferential recess 15 is provided between shoulders 14 and within which a yoke 16 of a pivotally mounted actuating bar 17 is received. Yoke 16 may either be secured to bar 17 in any manner found suitable for the purpose or may be formed integral with bar 17 if so desired.

Bar 17 is pivoted intermediate its length upon a resiliently biased yoke 13 which is urged toward an outer limit of movement by spring 19 and retained against further movement by a bolt or rod 21 which is slidably secured in any convenient manner to wall 22 which may also be a portion of the-frame of the receiver mechanism.

Driving spring 23 is compressively supported between the end of bar 17 opposite yoke 16 and wall 24, which may also be a portion of the frame of the receiver mechanism. Thus, it will be apparent that bar 17 is floatably supported and is normally impelled in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, to thereby urge collar 13 toward the round R to be loaded and fired.

Bar 17 and consequently collar 13 are normally maintained in the retracted position by sear bar 25 which is pivotally connected at one end thereof to bar 17 and is slidably received at the other end thereof within a wall 26 having a recess 27 provided therein. Sear bar 25 is notched as at 28 and 29 to provide stop portions against which pivotally mounted sears 31 and 32 maybe positioned thereby to prevent longitudinal movement of the sear bar 25 and, in turn, movement of the sealing collar 13. Sears 31 and 32 are normally maintained within the notched areas 28 and 29 by spring means 33 and 34.

A round R may be carried into the receiver such, for example, as by carrier 35, Fig. 2, which is secured to a movable cable 36 and provided with suitable latching arms 10 for securing the round to the carriers. Alternatively, the round may be pushed into the receiver by any suitable external means, not shown. Stops 37 and 38, which are normally held in the inclined position shown in Figs. 4 and by spring 39 and operating bar 41 in the manner best indicated in Figs. '2 and 5, engage the carrier as the latter moves into the receiver and are forced downward. Such downward movement of stops 37 and 38 is a linear motion along the longitudinal axis of the steps. This downward movement is normally resisted by coil spring 30 compressively biased between operating bar 41 and the upper end of a spring receiving cavity 20 within each stop member.

As the downward motion of stops 37 and 38'progresses the scars 31 and 32 are pivoted against the compressive forces within spring means 33 and 34, respectively, to

thereby trip sears 31 and 32 and permit collar 13 to move downwardly, as viewed in Fig. 1, into sealing engagement with the round in the manner afore-described. It will be apparent that collar 13 will not be moved until both sears 31 and 32 have been tripped and, therefore,

not until the carrier 35 of round R has contacted both stops 37 nad 38 thereby assuring an accurate alignment of the missile with the barrel 11 prior to any movement of collar 13.

To eliminate the possibility of the round R bouncing back off stops 37 and 38, a pawl 42, Figs. 2 and 3, is pivotally moved into position behind the carrier. The tension of spring 43, which is connected between wall 44 and the inner end of pawl 42, serves to pull the pawl into the position shown in Fig. 2. It will be notedthat the upper surface of pawl 42 is arcuatelyshaped so as to enable a round carrier to depress the ,pawl as the carrier moves into its position of alignment with the barrel, the pawl assuming the positiouillustratedin Fig.

'2 as the carrier 35 attains the proper position of alignmen with e ee t he br e h of e n ba re In the event that the round is moved into the receiver :tetetet against theaetisa o eu iasmte Wind t 'It will be understood that one erid of spring 39 is cm;

by means of a carrier such as that illus ra ed a .35, for example, stops 37 and 38 contact cable-grab operating levers 46 and declutch the cable grab 47 from the moving cable 36 to thereby cause carrier 35 to hesitate in its movement so that round R may be fired.

Operating levers 46 are connected via flexible and resilient couplings 50 to a cable-grab lifting mechanism, to be more fully described hereinafter. It will be apparent that with a proper choice of couplings 50, which may be of any type suitable for the purpose, the carrier 35 will not be disconnected from cable 36 until both levers 46 have been actuated through a predetermined are by their contact with stops 37 and 38. Thus, the carrier cannot be disconnected from cable 36 until round R is properly aligned with the barrel of the gun.

Referring now to Fig. 5 it will be observed that'the carrier 35 includes at least one cable-grab device 47 having a clutch plate 63 provided with a serrated cable engaging face portion 64. An upstanding actuating rod 65 is secured to clutch plate 63 in a y manner found suitable for the purpose such, for example, as by welding. Rod 65 projects through and is slidably carried by a housing 66 which may be a portion of carrier 35, if so desired. A circumferential shoulder 67 projects laterally from and is rigidly secured to rod 65 and is disposed within housing 66. Shoulder 67 cooperates with the interior surface of the lower Wall 68 of housing 66 t9 function as a stop member for the downward movement of rod 65 and its associated clutch plate 63. Any suitable means may be employed for normally urging clutch plate 63 into engagement with cable 36 such, for example, as spring 69 compressed between shoulder 67 and the interior surface of the upper wall 71 of housing 66. The

.upper end of rod 65 is provided with a laterally offset lug 72 which engages in an overlying relationship Que end of arm 73 secured to rod 62 for rotation therewith when the total torsion of springs 50 is slightly greater than the compression of spring 69. Thus, as best viewed in Fig. 5, when the lower end of levers 46 are moved to the right in response to contact with stops 37 and 38, the rod 65 and its serrated clutch face 64 will be lifted to disengage the latter from cable 36 and prevent further movementuntil after the round is fired.

As hereinbefore described, sear bar 25 will be released when both sears have been tripped. When sear bar 25 is released, the driving spring 23 moves bar 17 and, in turn, sealing collar 13 so that the latter is moved over the nose of the round casing and forces the round base into contact with the firing pin 48.

An electrical firing circuit, not shown, is closed as the final downward motion, as viewed in Fig. 1, of the sealing collar 13 is completed. The closing of the circuit releases the firing pin and the round is fired. The firing circuit is opened in response to the upward motion, Fig. 1, of the sealing collar which is effected after the round is fired and in a manner now to be described.

.As the projectile travels through the bore-of the gun barrel and clears port 49 the gas pressure behind the projectile enters this port and passes through a pressure line 51' to gas cylinder 52. The piston 53 which is-slid ably carried within cylinder 52 is normally biased in the position shown in Fig. 1 by spring 54 which is compressed between end wall 55 and piston 53. Piston-rod 56 is disposed within the confines of coil spring 54 and is slidablycarried within an aperture 57 in Wall 55. A 'cam surface 58 is secured to the end portion of rod 56 which is opposite the end which carries piston 53.

A laterally offset end portion 59 of operating bar 41 engages cam surface 58.' Therefore, when the end pore'a 59 he O era in b ri p the am urfae 58 in es o se-t as Pr su f om th bo e he sun b rre 1! fe eias p n 53 a t ssee a d P eteui iidownwardly as v e ed .iulEis- 51 bar 41 W1 b latterbedded within wall 40 to anchorthat end against-displacement and the other end is secured to operating bar 41 in any convenient manner as within an aperture. provided for that purpose.

As spring 39 is wound, the stops 37 and 38 will be rotated from a position in engagement with levers 46 to a position behind the round R and its carrier 35, as disclosed in Fig. 3. Consequently, as the stops are rotated out of engagement with levers 46, the torsional forces on springs 50 are released to permit spring 69 once again to force clutch plate 63 into engagement with the moving cable 36, and the empty case is moved out of the receiver. Simultaneously with the re-engagement of clutch plate 63 with the moving cable 36, the end of pistonrod 56 engages sear bar 25 and moves it in a downward direction, as viewed in'Fig. l, to thereby slide sealing collar 13 upwardly and open the firing circuit. The empty case is now free for ejection. Simultaneously with the disengagement of collar 13 from the empty case, sear bar 25 is moved downwardly to the reset position and sears 31 and 32 respectively, are urged into the notched areas 28 and 29 provided on the sear bar. As soon as the empty round case has cleared stops 37 and 38 and the pressure within cylinder 52 has been reduced below a predetermined value the stops are urged into their initial, inclined position by the unwinding of spring 39, and the receiver mechanism is ready to receive the next round and repeat the cycle.

Should the motion of cable 36 be stopped for any reasons, the round nearest the gun barrel may or may not be placed in proper alignment for firing. In either event, succeeding rounds will he declutched from the cable by reason of engagement of levers 46 with the adjacent wall of the preceding carrier 35. Thus, it will be apparent that the cable may be stopped gradually without damage to the rounds, the receiver mechanism, or both.

The cable also may be started gradually without the necessity of overcoming the inertia of all the rounds positioned along the cable becausea substantial number of rounds will have been temporarily declutched from the cable and accumulated adjacent the breech end of the gun in the manner previously described. This gradual starting characteristic is important because commercially. available repulsion-induction motors may be employed to drive the cable.

Each round comprises a case or firing chamber individual thereto and the sealing collar 13 seals the end of the firing chamber to the gun barrel. However, for purposes of the description the projectile and case have been considered as a unit and referred to as a round. The specific construction of the case or firing chamber forms no part of the receiver mechanism of the present invention.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A round feeding, positioning and ejecting mechanism associated with the barrel of a gun comprising a receiver mechanism, a round carrier,.a movable cable connectable to and disconnectable from said carrier for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism; said receiver mechanism including a clutch memher for disconnecting said carrier and cable in time coincidence with the movement of said carrier into longi tudinal alignment with the bore of the gun, means including a sealing collar slidably carried by the barrel for sealing the round to the barrel and firing the round, and means for resetting said sealing collar and actuating said clutch member to connect said carrier to said cable in response to gas pressure created when the round is 2. A feeding, positioning, and ejecting mechanism for a barrel type weapon comprising a frame, a movable cable, a round carrier connectable to and disconneetable from said cable, a clutch member carried by said carrier, an actuating arm operably connected to said clutch member, a stop member positioned for engagement with said clutch actuating arm when said round carrier reaches a position of longitudinal alignment with the barrel whereby the round carrier will be disconnected from the cable, a sealing collar slidably carried by the barrel, a sealing collar actuator connected to said sealing collar and pivotally and floatably carried by said frame, resilient driving means for normally urging said sealing collar into an extended sealing relation with respect to a round carried by said carrier and in longitudinal alignment with the barrel, a notched sear bar slidably secured to said frame and pivotally connected to said sealing collar actuator, a scar normally disposed within the notched area of said sear bar thereby to restrain said resilient means from urging said collar from its retracted position to its extended position, and said stop member being engageable with said sear to move the latter out of engagement with said sear bar and thereby release the collar actuating bar for movement under the action of the driving means to seal the round to the barrel, means for firing the round, a gas cylinder in pneumatic communication with the interior of the barrel, a piston slidably carried within said cylinder and resiliently biased toward engagement with the end wall thereof at the high pressure side of the cylinder, a piston rod connected to said piston, a cam element secured to the outer end of said piston rod, an operating bar upon which said stops are mounted, said operating bar having a laterally offset portion in engagement with said cam surface whereby gas pressure created within the barrel when a round is fired causes said ofiset portion to ride upon said cam surface and thereby rotate the stops to a position below said carrier to cause the latter to be connected to said cable, and moves said collar actuating bar, collar, and sear bar to the reset position against the operation ofthe driving means whereby the receiver mechanism is ready to repeat the cycle.

3. A round feeding and receiver mechanism associated with the barrel of a gun comprising a round carrier, a movable cable connectable to and disconnectable from saidcarrier for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism, and means for disconnecting the round carrier from the cable when the carrier arrives in the receiver in a position in alignment with the gun barrel and for connecting the carrier to the cable when the round is fired whereby said cable continues moving in the same direction and with the same velocity.

4. A round feeding receiver mechanism associated with the barrel of a gun comprising a round carrier, a movable cable for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism, means for disconnecting the carrier from the cable upon arrival of the carrier in the receiver mechanism such that the cable may be gradually brought to a stop at any time without damage to any of the elements of the mechanism.

5. A round feeding and receiving mechanism for a barrel type weapon comprising a round carrier, means including a cable movable at a constant rate during firing operations for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism, means for effecting a hesitation in the movement of said carrier when the round carried thereby is in longitudinal alignment with the barrel, means for sealing the round to the barrel and firing the round substantially simultaneously with the operation of said hesitation means, means for resetting the receiver mechanism in response to gas pressure created within the barrel when the round is fired and to thereby prepare the mechanism for repeating the cycle, said means for efi ecting a hesitation in the movement of said carrier comprises a serrated clutch face resiliently urged into driven engagement with said cable, a clutch means for genome?- glisengaging said clutch race from said cable, a clutch means for disengaging said clutch face from said cable, and means for actuating said clutch means when said carrier has moved into longitudinal alignment with the barrel and for re-engaging said clutch means with said cable when the round carried by the carrier has been fired to thereby eject the empty shell case from the receiver mechanism.

6. A round feeding and receiver mechanism for a barrel type weapon comprising a round carrier, means including a cable movable at a constant rate during firing operations for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism, means for efiecting a hesitation in the movement of said carrier when the round carried thereby is in longitudinal alignment with the barrel, means for sealing the round to the barrel and firing the round substantially simultaneously with the operation of said hesitation means, means for resetting the receiver mechanism in response to gas pressure created within the barrel when the round is fired and to thereby prepare the mechanism for repeating the cycle, said means for sealing the round to the barrel includes a collar slidably carried by the breech end of the barrel and means for sliding said collar into sealing engagement with the round carried by the carrier in response to the arrival of the round in a position of longitudinal alignment with the barrel.

7. A round feeding and receiver mechanism for a barrel type weapon comprising a round carrier, means including a cable movable at a constant rate during firing operations for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism, means for efiecting a hesitation in the movement of said carrier when the round carried thereby is in longitudinal alignment with the barrel, means for sealing the round to the barrel and firing the round substantially simultaneously with the operation of said hesitation means, means for resetting the receiver mechanism in response to gas pressure created within the barrel when the round is fired and to thereby prepare the mechanism for repeating the cycle, said means for sealing the round to the barrel includes a collar slidably carried by the breech end of the barrel and means for sliding said collar into sealing engagement with the round carried by the carrier in response to the arrivalof the round in a position of longitudinal alignment with the barrel, said means for sealing further comprises stop members, linkage connected to said collar and normally maintained in a collar retracted position, and means for moving said linkage and collar to a round sealing position and substantially simultaneously therewith setting in operation said hesitation means in response to engagement of said stop members with said hesitation means.

8. A round feeding and receiver mechanism for a barrel type weapon comprising a round carrier, means including a cable movable at a constant rate during firing operations for moving said carrier into and out of the receiver mechanism, means for effecting a hesitation in the movement of said carrier when the round carried thereby is in longitudinal alignment with the barrel, means for sealing the round to the barrel and firing the round substantially simultaneously with the operation of said hesitation means, means for resetting the receiver mechanism in response to gas pressure created within the barrel when the round is fired and to thereby prepare the mechanism for repeating the cycle, said means for resetting the receiver mechanism includes a gas cylinder in fluid communication with the interior of said barrel, a piston and piston rod resiliently biased in a first position when the gas pressure within the barrel is less than a predetermined value and urged to a second position when the gas pressure within the barrel attains said predetermined value in response to the firing of a round within the barrel, a cam surface carried by the outer end portion of said piston rod,'said cam surface and the outer end of said piston rod being operatively engageable with said sealing means for moving and latching the sealing means in the unsealed position and substantially simultaneonsly therewith rendering said hesitation means inoperative. i

References Cited in the file of this patent U TED TATES PATEN l North Aug. 29, 1944 2,440,723 MacDonald May 4, 1948 2,450,929 Ashworth Oct. '12, 1948 RE N A ENTS 315,256 Germany Nov. 1, '1919 1,081,388 France June 9, 1954 

